Ok definitely need an update!

Last Thurs: This was the first day we kind of needed to be back at MHC... Things were actually planned for us. In the morning, I went with Alex to Laura's brunch get together. We had a little trouble finding the bed and breakfast, but all was well once we got there. And the mimosa definitely helped relieve the symptoms of a cold or allergies (couldn't figure it out). I decided to drop the canoe sing activity, since I didn't want to be totally overbooked. So I went home and slept... Then got ready for the senior bbq in the backyard of the president's house. It was a beautiful day... we sat at a patio table, and then moved into the sun for dessert. Beer & ice cream... don't really go together. Loved hanging out with my neighbors & friends again -- as time was winding down, I was getting progressively sadder about leaving MHC.

Afterwards, I hung out with Karuna & Susan until Final Lecture... which was entertaining, although the first speaker had a serious speech for us, that didn't mesh with the latter two, or the purpose of the event. Luckily it didn't last much beyond a half hour, because I had to rush home to see the season finale of the OC! (Which was awesome!) Jen came down with wine and we drank and yelled at the tv. Jen was ready to leave with all the violence.

I was planning on hanging out with Mom and Tim in the evening, but they have the same bad luck with airplanes as I do. True to form, the airlines screwed up and had delays at both PDX & Chicago. They really can't get their s*#! together. But it turned out to be for the best, as I went with Karuna & Susan to D Becky's wine & cheese party. The bunny was in good form, and I got some funny pictures. We ate... and drank... and watched ER. Got to bed rather late, but tried not to worry too much!

Friday morning was a long ass graduation rehearsal. First of all, I couldn't figure out why they had people speaking to us (some from the CDC). It seemed to be a time filler while we completed surveys on our experience at MHC and our future plans. I didn't appreciate my time being wasted when I wanted to sleep and rest up for a very busy day. Then, they had every single person who wasn't happy with how their name was announced stand in ONE LINE and correct the prof. reading. Which is fine -- if they want to wait in a line instead of filling out the form given to us way back in Sept, that should be their waste of time. But to make ALL OF US wait, when they could have just done the corrections at the conclusion of the rehearsal after letting the rest of us GO (who either have easy to pronounce names, or sent in the form as asked), was frankly inconsiderate and ridiculous. Kathleen and I were literally lying down trying to fall asleep on the small carpeted area of the field house. Argh! Even I filled out a form, and my name is ridiculously common in this country.

Luckily, Mom and Tim didn't head over to MHC right away that morning. I grabbed lunch at Blanchard (amidst confused alums), and headed up to the Delles. I went toward the front of the building, thinking that perhaps I'd intercept Mom and Tim somehow. Lo and behold, there they were, chatting with other parents, right in front of the Delles! So I showed them around, we took a walk all over campus & ate, went through the million dollar garden & looked at bullfrogs in the smaller pond, walked toward upper lake, and then decided to go to Amherst in the later afternoon.

First, though, Tim had some unfinished business to attend to -- he decided to arrange with FM to make a sign with the MHC stencil on it. Amazingly, in the time it took Mom and I to do some errands, Tim had gotten this sign made. It'll look cool later, I'm thinking in my stable with two horses... =) Afterwards, we got food and ate on the Amherst green. It was getting a tad chilly... we headed back to MHC.

In the evening, Andrew got there just in time to walk with us over to Abbey Chapel. It was great. They played Havah Nagilah, and Karuna had a beautiful solo! Mom & Tim decided to go back to the hotel, and Andrew & I stayed in.

Saturday was busy, busy... Bright and early, we headed over to Abbey/ Buck in our white for the laurel parade. I really wanted to carry the laurel, which nearly backfired later on when alums were yelling at me to catch up before the laurel broke! But before that, we had like 40 minutes of sitting there in the cold. Luckily Mum bought me a white cardigan, so I wasn't totally freezing. I stepped on a worm, which scared me because I didn't notice till I'd basically cut it in two. We finally started, marching with the other alums, and then marching between them to the grave. They had lots of great signs, and everyone was in their class colors. We did our weaving around the grave, getting a bit unwielding in formation, and then sang a rather disjointed version of Bread and Roses. Difficult to find people afterwards!!

I finally turned in my thesis to the English Dept., changed clothes, and went to the alum meeting in the amphitheater, which was scorching in the sun. Then we had the community picnic, which was decent... drank wine... sat kind of lazily for the Phi Beta Kappa induction... ran back in the now drizzling weather to put away the certificate, then suddenly the sun was out again, and hurried over the English dept. at home. Yummy carrot cake =) Very cool introducing Mum & Tim to Corinne & Quillian and everyone... Hugged Bev, talked with Laura... ahh such fun! Then I think Mom and Tim were ready to go (Prof. A. was later wondering where they were)... after Corinne had them reading my thesis!! Ack. I walked back to the dorm with Andrew & Laura.

Dinner was the Under the Stars theme, under the huge tent on Skinner Green. We sat with Laura and Kathleen, both of whom my mother LOVED. She said they both had elements of a girlfriend she had way back when. I had lots of chocolate mousse, and it soon became apparent that I have no table manners =) Then, in the drizzle, we had the baccheloreate ceremony. Emily C. had a speech, JoJo, a chaplain, Profs. Renda & Chen (I think?)... and singing... and then it was suddenly over. Rather strangely spiritual sending off. Standing out gathering everyone up, Korisha's mother (who is incredibly cool, I fell in love with her in the like combined 15 minutes I was around her) was about ready to bring me back with them. Had a little encounter with a public safety officer, who was offering to see her home or something... odd! But the evening wasn't over... Andrew and I caught the very end of the canoe sing (unfortuately we didn't get there till late because we were getting ready to be out at the party). Then we wandered around... and I wished we had gotten right to the canoe sing and THEN gotten ready, instead of missing so much of it. Eventually perked up again with some beer at the party. Ran into Karuna & Susan & Jen & Janet (and her brother!) & Andrew's friends. Merry was about ready to keep me partying till 4 am. Luckily she let me go! =)

Sunday morning, tired and sleepy, I was off after a quick breakfast to line up for commencement. It was inside, unfortunately. Lots of marching to bagpipes and running to catch up in line and sitting. Nina Totenberg's speech was OK, except for the "girls' school" slip up. Claudia's speech was awesome though! Walking across the stage was strangely anticlimatic. I think my exact thoughts were "step step OK shake, get the paper packet, don't fall down, get going, down the stairs, should I pause here for pictures?" Yeah not so exciting. Afterwards, I had a teary goodbye with Corinne, and hung out with Beth, Korisha, and Liz. Ahh... sadness. Leaving is so sad =(

After the reception (yum cheesecake and fudge), Mom and Tim went to Brinfield antiquing, while Andrew and I packed up my room. We dropped stuff off at Salvation Army, ate one last time at Osaka, got ice cream to go from Herrell's, got cake & cookies for Mum and Tim, & got coffee from Rao's for Andrew (that along with the fudge sauce from Herrell's was his taste of the valley birthday present... wish I had thought of that earlier!) Back at the Delles, Mum & Tim had dessert and I finished up packing. They left to sleep (before their trips to Mystic & Newport the next day) while Andrew and I got everything together, had a last fun conversation with Claudia, Karuna, and Craig, and then drove back to Boston. We got in around 1 am... Luckily Andrew slept in the next day and just went to work late. I was so tired I started falling down in the shower... staying up till 3 am after a busy commencement weekend is so not a good idea!

Monday I just slept, basically. And watched TV. And went food shopping. Yum mango fried rice! Same with Tuesday. I watched movies... some Young Frankenstein, Snake Pit, Dolores Claiborne, Princess Bride, etc. Weds. I went to work at W2K... loved seeing everyone! But the office was FREEZING. The management CLEVERLY turned off the heating system on May 15th, and even in light of record setting low "highs" in the 40's, couldn't be bothered to turn it back on. Or even to turn off the autopilot AC, for that matter. Warmed up with buffalo chicken for dinner!

Thurs. I went in to work again, this time armed with three sweaters and a blanket. No joke. People were seriously walking around with blankets wrapped around them. Arggghh! Oh I finally experienced the cafe food a bit. Usually I avoid that. But the chocolate cookies are oh so yummy. Kinda sad to leave the office for the last time. I spent so much time there last summer... Said goodbye's to the other interns & Charlene. On the way home, we picked out Andrew's glasses... And then had our last dinner at 9 Tastes. More mango fried rice! Last night we also watched Kinsey, which was good, but not as good as I'd hoped.

Today I've just been watching TV & packing for my flight tomorrow... so nice to just relax finally!

I'm at work so this will be quite brief. It's FREEZING in here. I've got long socks on, slacks, and three layers -- cotton shirt, wool cardigan, Andrew's fleece -- and I'm STILL COLD!! My fingers get ice cold typing. Today's "high" (in the mid forties) is a record setting low for the Boston area. And it's raining like hell and windy outside. Great, huh? And, the management of the office buildings cleverly decided to turn off the heat back on May 15th -- in other words, it is now impossible to get the heat on. So we're all shivering, and wondering how they get away with charging rent for this office space. People are literally walking around in blankets. No joke.

Anyway, just had to copy Andrew's IM, because he's slowly going crazy with the computer science textbook writing:


ANDPEW: oh so cheryl and i came up with a great movie idea
ANDPEW: it's about a disgruntled textbook writer who uses his collection of big ass books to store tools (a la Shawshank Redemption) and slowly bores his way through his cubicle
Pink Poodledog: hahahah
ANDPEW: only to find himself in the middle of the river outside
ANDPEW: then he gets sucked into the old mill, which unknowingly is still active
Pink Poodledog: oh lord
Pink Poodledog: you guys got pretty far along on the plot development
ANDPEW: it was actually all my idea
ANDPEW: well cheryl suggested emerging into the water like in the movie
ANDPEW: well when we went out to lunch some people from across the hall were wondering what we do, so we explained
ANDPEW: but then we were thinking it'd be fun to make up a story about how the books are really just a front
ANDPEW: and that they're so big so we can store all sorts of cool stuff in the cut-out insides
Pink Poodledog: hahaha
Pink Poodledog: you guys are crazy. over here we're more normal, because we don't do technical writing =)
ANDPEW: haha

ANDPEW: haha, you're so cute. i can tell you've finally realized you're actually done with college :-)

Auto response from Pink Poodledog: watching my newest addiction: america's next top model. yes, it's come down to this... I'm so starved for mindless tv that I've taken to watching animal cops and america's next top model.

Pink Poodledog: hahahah

Wow wow I'm really done!

Yesterday was my last day in Boston; Andrew, conveniently, wasn't feeling well enough to go to work. Lots of sleep. I'm still making up for the last year, I think. Sat in the sun reading, messing around on the computer, and napping, while Andrew got some work done. In the evening we began the arduous task of finding new glasses for Andrew. The problem with this: Andrew wants glasses that will define and reveal his innermost character. Judging from our hour in the eyeglass office, this is a tough order to fill.

Dinner was amazing... and a great reminder of why Blanchard food is disgusting... We made sushi -- some CA rolls, and some inventions using mango. Perfectly ripe mango & avocado... heaven on a cutting board.

This morning we had our last ever early morning car ride to the Boston bus station. Got there in plenty of time -- I actually fell asleep twice on the bus, too. MHC was beautiful today (it's sneaky like that, getting prettier before you leave). I got my thesis corrections & handed in the final copy to the library. Andrew led me through the PDF-cation of my thesis, with no snags. Dropped by the English Dept... cleaned up my room to Jen's MMMBop next door... had dinner with my neighbors, Claudia, Nora, Erin, Joanna, and friends =) Topics included: secret handshakes, personal pizzas, and to what extent Blockbuster is the puppy mill of the video world. Then I finally returned Marx to his proper home.

America's Next Top Model -- it wasn't the small town girl from the midwest that I was rooting for, but the winner is equally cool, I've decided. I guess now there's nothing left to do but continue packing... ick.

I'm now in Boston for senior week -- catching up on sleep!

Tuesday: I was nervous about the English Dept presentation on my thesis, and talked to Anna for awhile to procrastinate. I helped Maryanne set up a bit to distract myself, and arranged the room in a small, intimate circle. My hopes for a small & informal talk were dashed when the circle widened and widened to eventually include the entire Cassani Room. When Prof. Hill yelled at Azeen to speak up, and she had to stand up to be heard, I knew that we had definitely crossed the line from cozy talk to formal presentation. Of course, I had to go last, because of my last name. Damn it, why didn't I take Duckwall instead of Richardson? Then I could have been 2nd or 3rd from last... argh. Anyway, I got through it, and read the first couple pages of a short story that doesn't include dialogue till the third page (I can't distinguish by voice the different characters, without sounding as though I'm reading to children). Afterwards I got to talk to everyone, and Sarah & Miranda consoled me with beautiful flowers =)

Afterwards we had our last dinner at Wilder (sadness!) and I started packing stuff up & throwing things out. In the evening I played Trivial Pursuit with Karuna & the gang -- this time I was on Claudia & Kim's team (and of course they won). I was a bit tipsy afterwards... & Karuna & I went to M&C's.

Weds. I barely remember... I know we had a farewell dinner at Prospect (my last night eating in a real dining hall!), and I got lots of pictures with Sarah & Miranda & Ariel! In the evening I stopped by Esther & Jen's get-together to socialize a bit.

Thurs. I had a lovely afternoon sitting out on the grass in the garden by the art museum, writing out cards. It was just warm enough (although a bit windy), and the sun was wonderful. Dinner was awful though... We went to Blanchard and I stupidly ordered the special -- fried rice. It was soaked in soy sauce. I tried to eat some of it because I was hungry and that was my entire dinner swipe. Eventually I gave up, and Sarah tried it to compare it to hers. When she agreed that it was not edible, I complained to the checker & got a sandwich to replace it. Ick!! It's crazy... there's so much sodium in soy sauce, I don't understand why they would soak the rice in it... YUCK.

Friday I finally was motivated to take the bus to Boston -- in part because there was no way I was going to survive Blanchard food for the full week! The ride went smoothly, and I even saw my firstie Zainab for the first leg of the journey. All the elevators were working so I didn't have to drag my wheelie suitcase around, and the trains seemed to show up just as I arrived at the subway line. I took a nap finally when I arrived (sleepy from the lulling bus ride!)... and then we went out for Indian food in Davis Square. I prefer the place in Noho for my favorite masala, but the portions were definitely bigger here... and more in the way of extras (we had some sort of spicy plum sauce that was amazing). We started I heart Huckabees, but promptly fell asleep.

Saturday was a wonderfully lazy day. I slept tons trying to fight off this cold, and then we went out in the evening to Merry's birthday party. We talked to Merry a bit, who is great fun, but then found ourselves talking together and feeling awkward that we weren't mingling more... The problem being, that we both tend toward the wallflower mentality. And it seemed like everyone was already in their groups... And the people willing to strike up conversations with us were a bit, well, hard to get into. First there was a girl from Western Mass. who seemed rather hippie-ish and assured me that I really NEED to go to the Oregon Country Fair. Not just go, but find a vender (back in Oregon we call them carnies) to sneak me in overnight. OK. Maybe it's just me, but I would not feel super safe staying with a carnie overnight at the fair. After that awkward conversation ended, we soon found ourselves talking to a guy that Merry might like the day before. Apparently he's from Moldova. Luckily Andrew had at least heard of this country, because I'm not so good with geography. Once we extricated ourselves from that conversation, I think we were both ready to head out.

The highlight of the evening, though, was Merry's friends singing "Oh Merry" instead of "Oh Sherry." I wish I'd known Merry at MHC -- she's hilarious and so energetic. We're adoping each other for Big/Little Sister, because mine deserted me and she was abroad junior year. Another highlight was the strange coincidence of Dan -- who was also having a birthday. His gf, who he was flying out to see the next day in Seattle, was an intern with Andrew at Microsoft AND went abroad to Amsterdam at the same time with him. Strange.

Sunday was pretty quiet, until Andrew's roommate Mo started in on his Star Wars marathon party. Andrew & I ducked out to Jon & Jen's for dinner on the new grill. We hung out till Desperate Housewives was over (sooo good this week). The party was still going strong back at the apt. It sounded as though the apt. was under attack, with side commentary compliments of Mo. The place was pretty much trashed afterwards, and I finally deigned to turn off the tv at like 5 am after realizing that Mo had, in fact, decided not to bother. This morning I decided I couldn't stand it, and took out half the trash bags & cleaned up the counters & rangetop. The dishes, however, are all Mo's. Those I'm refusing to touch! Further proof why I NEED a studio at Stanford next year, and why I'm never living with any guys except Andrew (who's as OCD as me, and cleaner than any other representrative of the male species that I've ever known). Andrew was equally irate -- and is looking forward to his own place starting this summer that he can keep obsessively clean. I've never seen any guy but him actually PICK UP CRUMBS off the floor immediately after dropping them. In fact, he did it just last night at Jon & Jen's. Wow!

Today I was watching TV and decided that I should really read something instead of vegging to VH1's celebrity moments on tape. So I was looking at this article from the NYT, I think it went out on the 15th, about class in America. It made me feel vindicated in leaning toward Marxist theory and claiming that class is still a valid issue today...

Anyway, now it's time for vegging again!

Another full week... I'm all done!! Except for one presentation that doesn't count for anything tomorrow in the Eng. Dept...

Tues: Last day of undergrad. classes!! I was kind of tired from staying up and working on my presentation for Eng. 319, but, it wasn't so bad... running on adrenaline & excitement. At 4 pm we had strawberries & champagne, which was awesome. The champagne was gross, but the strawberries were good. And it was fun drinking ANYTHING at that point, just to get tipsy and celebrate, FINALLY! I took some funny pictures of Beth & Korisha... dancing on the back of a truck. Well we were sitting on the truck because there was no where to sit but on the grass, and then there were these guys coming over and we were sure they were going to tell us to go away, but they didn't... Lots of mingling, some stealing of champagne, and even a perfect picture of Beth yelling into the photographer's camera! I hope that one makes it into the yearbook...

Anyway, after about one and a half glasses, I was done. I hadn't eaten since lunch, & I hadn't been sleeping much. So of course in this condition I went to the English Dept picnic. I saw Quillian & Emily C., and Quillian asked "Is Becky drunk? I've never seen Becky drunk." To which Emily wondered when he would have, but anyway... Corinne arrived shortly after, and we had one of those movie moments where we both ran toward each other and hugged. I gave her my resource books & articles to check my citations, and then we had picnic fare... Decent veggie burgers, but no dessert!!! So much fun. So many people I love in one place! We sold t-shirts, I made people endure picture-taking with me, & we went on mingling expeditions. Afterwards, we never-missed-a-swipe, and then got ready to go to Prof. S's house for our Stoppard party. Jess got us there without any problems. Such a cute house! We ate Rosencrunch & Guildenpop while watching Shakespeare in Love, which is SO MUCH BETTER than I remembered. I got the Twelfth Night stuff, since I'd just seen the play at school, but I definitely did NOT pick up on John Webster or Christopher Marlowe the first time around. And it was just way better after reading/ seeing more of Stoppard's work. Many similarities... it was tempting to bring it into my paper on love ideologies... But anyway! That was another amazing time -- how often do you get to sit with a room full of people who have read Stoppard fairly extensively, love him, & want to talk about it? Ahh. And popcorn!

The ride home was a tad scary. First, Jess got lost. Then, we started seeing broken down cars and cemetaries, and some car was following right on Jess's butt...and we started comparing our plight to scary movie beginnings. I was specifically thinking of the beg. of Night of the Living Dead... or Urban Legend. But we ended up turning around and getting back to MHC minus any zombie encounters or hooks attached to car doors.

Weds: Started selling English Dept. t-shirts at lunch, and I started writing my final papers. I had dinner with everyone at Wilder... our last Gracious dinner!! And it was pretty amazing. Lots of random appetizers, like seafood pinwheels & terra chips & cherry tomatoes with fresh mozarella. But the desserts... ahh. The strawberries were incredible -- smaller and sweeter, like our Oregon strawberries. And mini cheesecakes w/ fudge sauce. Ahhh...!

From dessert, I went to the SAW dessert in the Great Room. The chocolate dipped strawberries weren't as good, but I ate them anyway. Along with a big piece of fudge cake. Good times! =) We talked about the program & what we'd learned from it... a nice wrap up. And they gave us MHC tote bags which made me happy (although the art museum ones are sooo perfect... but now that I have, well, now I have three khaki totes since my advisor gave me one to carry books in, too, now I can't see buying a fourth!) They'd also asked our profs to give feedback to mentors... I love my Prof.!

After SAW, it was time for the last V8's jam. Somehow, they made Gamble look cool w/ twinkly lights. The singing was great... esp. their new song, "At Last." Kathleen & I were very impressed. Then it was back to work on my Stoppard paper, which I worked on till late!

Thurs. was more of the same... Selling t-shirts, mentoring, and writing the Stoppard paper. I stayed up till quite late... drinking rooibos tea & eating leftover strawberries & cheesecake. Walking around this campus at like 10:30 at night during finals is an odd experience. Everything's blooming right now, so walking around campus first of all is a very... well, aromatic experience. Then people were playing softball in the dark on Pageant Green. Strange.

Friday: more of the same! I sold t-shirts at Blanchard for a little while, walked Ashley to the main dining service building, proofread my Stoppard paper, and started my 319 paper. In the evening I got ready for dinner out for Andrew's birthday. I got rather dressed up, & curled my hair... Fun ways to procrastinate. I took him to the Indian restaurant in Noho (the good one). I had the same thing as last time... so excellent. Andrew enjoyed it, and said afterwards that he's now decided he likes Indian food. Yay =) Afterwards we had our romantic evening, but Andrew fell asleep during Heathers. Strange movie. I didn't really get all the croquet playing, but I went with it.

Saturday it was raining and miserable out. Andrew slept in till like, 2, while I balanced & made out Verbosity accounts for the audit. Which I passed with flying colors, might I add! & Verbosity got the full amount we asked for, $800, so... go us!! I think next year they should ask for even more and start publishing once a semester, or just step up the quality of the one edition per year. Since it was pretty gross out -- windy and rainy -- Andrew decided to nix his plans of hanging out in Amherst alone. So he came with me to our floor reunion dinner since he knows most everyone. Hilarious... kept going back to toilet humor. And I stole even more italian ices to add to my collection (which I had started after eating with Kathleen in Abbey a few days prior... they had so many ices... I put three in my hoodie pocket).

I worked a bit more in the evening on my paper, and finally finished!! Then I talked Andrew into driving me over to the library to turn in all my books. We carried them together, & I warned the girl working there that the 19th century books seirously need some tape to keep body and soul together. We rented Almost Famous because I'd never seen it... and the girl working was so rude... It sounded like she said: "It's due on ten" or something, so I wanted clarification and asked, sorry, what? She gave me this weird look, raised her eyebrows, and said "On the TENTH, the TENTH of MAY" like I was being stupid. Not exactly scoring points on customer service, our library! And you'd think a senior done with papers & her thesis would be cut a little slack... but no.

Anyway, we then went over to Big Y. Did you know that Ben & Jerry's has tons of new flavors? I didn't. I talked Andrew into getting Fossil Fuel, which went well with brownies... Loved Almost Famous. I recommended it to Mom because I'm sure she and Tim will love the music.

Sunday was slightly better weather-wise. We took a Dunkin Donuts run, and then headed to the mall. I finally found a white dress for a decent price, since I'd heard from a reliable source that the dress I was going to wear looked like a nightgown =/ Also got the sandals at the Gap that I had wanted but couldn't afford till they dropped below half off =)

Back at MHC, Andrew proofread my 319 paper, and then we went to Fresh Side for our last time ever dinner there! Ahhhh! Sadness. Tea rolls & some spicy Korean noodles that I didn't think were that special... I prefered my standard ginger tofu rolls, personally.

Afterwards, we watched Desperate Housewives, which is getting so so good! Then... yummy Black Sheep dessert =) I'm going to miss that espreso cake...

Today was the last Monday morning that Andrew will drive away from the Delles to work... ahh! Sadness. I napped a little, and then read a little, mentally prepped for my defense, handed in my last paper... My defense went pretty smoothly I think. Prof. M was great (my third reader), MJS was wonderful as always, and Corinne was her amazing and supportive self. I got my usual chair, and Corinne her, for that feeling of continuity. They all had amazing points that I would love to incorporate if I ever come back to Mansfield. Afterwards they shook hands with me and C. blew me a kiss. Strange how they turned that into something enjoyable!

Afterwards... I rushed to Blanchard for sushi. I wasn't early enough for salmon & avocado, but I did manage to get spicy tuna rolls. Ate with Laura & Rhea & shared defense stories. There were four of us just done with our defenses, about to go, or prepping. Also saw Miranda, and chatted for a little bit. Then I planted myself in the art dept. computer room for about 3 hours to work on my poetry entry for the Clio-M. prize. Ate dinner with Kathleen & the third floor gang over at Prospect... got itchy from the bugs...

And now I'm back... Just got to prep for this thing tomorow... and I'm... really and truly... DONE!

This past week has been so incredible. I feel like I've been at full capacity both academically & socially... I think I left off my last post at Thurs. evening, so let's pick up where I left off... =)

Friday: I wandered around in the sunny weather, with good intentions of being productive, which never really were realized. I got a bit of work done on the revising of my thesis, saw the May Pole from a distance, talked to Ashley, talked with some of my firsties from Eng. 101 (ahh I'm going to miss them SO much), ate dinner in my room waiting to hear about the English Dept. t-shirts, etc... Around about 5:30 or 6 I stopped proofreading my thesis to get ready for Senior Ball... I had to do all the usual unnecessary preparations -- like showering & painting my nails, which left little time for the more necessary things -- like getting dressed & doing hair & makeup. Andrew got here super early, so that didn't help, either. He brought a corsage, which was so sweet... So maybe Senior Ball doesn't exactly require a corsage, but people understood once I explained that I missed out on my high school proms & that Andrew is making it up for me by being the best date ever. *Such a fun night!*

We got to Chapin for the dance rather early -- early enough to get free champagne and for me to eat THREE chocolate cake bars from the Black Sheep -- Oh, bliss in a square! It was a gorgeous job with decorations... As you walked in, a jazz band played in the near left hand corner; to the near right the bar was set up... there were park benches, trees, and streetlamps, with various twinkly lights thrown about... perfect for the "Walk in the Park" theme. I enjoyed the jazz immensely, and the DJ somewhat... the DJ got way better, of course, when he started playing '80s music (Madonn'as Like a Prayer, old school rap songs, Michael Jackson's Beat It...) Andrew and I danced, or tried to. I stupidly forgot to bring money for alcohol, so I don't think we were quite as tipsy as we would have needed to be to really, well, make total fools of ourselves. Saw everyone... Karuna, Kathleen, Claudia, Laura K., Jess & Lauren... quite fun!

Saturday morning we slept way way in, since we didn't get to sleep till nearly 4 am. I worked on my thesis after grabbing lunch, and then Andrew drove into Amherst for Thai food while I worked at proofing things and applying his last minute edits to my stories. After dinner (he had something involving beef & fried rice & string beans & zucchini that was good, I had usual pad thai, of course), it was time to get ready for the concert... The opener was very political, and Ani Difranco was amazing. Andrew enjoyed her, too -- and she read a poem, which made me happy. Very happy, peaceful evening after thesis stress.

I worked on my thesis late into Sat. night... around 3 am I had a formatting problem after trying to adjust the margins to make room for the binding. It was dreadful, dreadful... Andrew sat and tried to explain why it had happened, and I got so made at whoever the hell created the Word program, and then Andrew had to sit there and hold me as I got all teary & went through the entire 130-some pages looking for errors. Didn't get to sleep till quite late (or early depending).

In the morning I dragged my ass to brunch thinking that we were going to have a play reading... since no one but me and Ariel showed up, though, we decided to just eat together. I brought some food back to Andrew... and settled in for creating my table of contents, acknowledgements page, etc... Had an emergency conference with Corinne over where to put the works cited pages and such... Then we had to buy paper... And I printed my thesis, for free, I refuse to pay to print my thesis on my own paper on this campus...! So we got the thesis in its binder, and then I could rest... ie., go out for dinner. We went to Fedora's... nostalgic! I had the blueberry beer as recommended by Beth... soooo good.

In the evening... I had to start reading for Monday's last Stoppard class... and we breaked for Desperate Housewives (it's getting juicy!) Then more reading... and bed.

This morning I had to get up early, finish reading the play... then I napped since I had extra time... submitted my work for the Phi Beta Kappa award, submitted my thesis, the clean, bound copy, to the English Dept, grabbed lunch, communicated with the t-shirt people, finally ate, got worried that I needed two extra copies of my thesis in the dept for it to be official, was told that's not true, rushed back to Stoppard class, & had an awesome class (I was wide awake & (I hope) saying relevant things throughout). Afterwards, after a couple of errands, I went to the Blessing & Sending of the Seniors Ceremony in Abby Chapel. It was awesome... We all sat on this big circular labyrinth thing on the stage, and each religious/ spiritual group blessed us with chants, songs, or little symbolic items (such as potpourri, salt, poems). Then we each created a square with our names on them to be part of a paper quilt. Quite nice... I had to slip out early in case the t-shirt guy called to drop off the boxes... and I walked out with everyone singing on stage & a misty rainy day outside the chapel.

The t-shirts are finally here!!! I wore one to dinner to advertise... ran into lots of people, including Rabia & Kiara... so I hope we sell out!!

That's all for now... So, wow... tomorrow morning I have a brief presentation in 319, then all I have is my thesis defense and two papers! WOW. Tomorrow is my last day of undergrad classes. And tomorrow is going to be incredible, but more on that later (after it's actually happened =)